My Life As A Young Adult Robosexual THE SERIES
by Hardman 5509
Summary: Jenny and Brit are nearly out of high school, and have a life ahead of them to plan. For Femslash Big Bang 2014 on tumblr.
1. Catching Up

'Some people are born into the world to lead others, the rest are meant to be leaded around. But it's not that certain as many would believe it is; a slave could rise up and lead his people into freedom, and a master of a nation can fall into servitude and stay there for the rest of the existence…'

Brit Crust bit the nub of eraser. She hit an impasse on her grand speech. The last year of high school required every senior to do something significant to be remembered as long as the building stood. Trying to outdo everyone else as always, Brit decided to perform two acts. A great rousing speech to her classmates during graduation and some sort of a large-scale senior prank. She didn't plan out her prank out yet, but wanted to get the speech done before work bogged her down. The first week of actual school had passed, and Brit was spending a Saturday in the park writing alone under the old ash tree on the hill.

But then the rushing sound of a jet engine came by her. She muffled out her annoyance as she held onto her notes as Jenny flew by. Brit stuffed her papers into her backpack as she looked up to see a giant New Cluster ship coming down into Earth's orbit. Jenny rushed right up to it and engaged the invaders. The sky lit up with violent bursts of blinding light as Jenny exchanged fire with the Cluster. Business as usual. Machines/aliens/mad scientists/monsters/whatever would attack and Jenny would fight them off. Same old, same old.

Brit sat down again, having got used to this a long time ago. As the battle continued to wage on to prevent the conquering of Earth umpteenth time, Brit couldn't get back to work on her speech and decided instead to get a small pocillo down at the traditional Peru café. After finishing that, she would return to the park to find the wrecked remains of the Cluster ship, surrounded by the cleanup crews and the press as Jenny would entertain both. Everything would then go back to normal until the next big disaster. Hopefully a disaster caused by Jenny…

But Brit knew better. She sighed as she dismissed the thought away and thought about what she would order to go with her coffee. Perhaps an empanada? Being meaning to try one of those for a long time. She would call Tiff, but Tiff had made plans with other friends this weekend to visit some-sort of a monster truck rally down south. Tiff had become a bit more accustomed to being dirtier, but she still had a 'passion for fashion.'

Brit…ultimately felt alone. Don Prima went off to study in Europe, and Pteresa had graduated early to work in her father's fashion business. Most of the popular kids two years ago were no longer popular or not popular enough for Brit's plate. Same matter applied to the freshmen and the sophomores. During the greyer days, Brit felt like she lived in a world that barely survived apocalypse. She wandered down a torn-up sidewalk, walking around the debris of a skyscraper and climbing over stripped cars.

She hadn't changed much, really. And that was a problem she faced everyday. While her cousin found delight in entertainment meant for the lower classes, Brit continued to enjoy the same material she did two years ago. Her attempts to keep up with the world of fashion were one she often trailed behind in. The only thing that improved was her attitude; she performed less pranks and broke less rules as her future was falling into the red zone.

But Jenny? Savior of the world, and now going to graduate with at least the minimal honor of cum laude, but if its grades continued to soar (Which it would.) Jenny would earn summa cum laude. It had become 'popular' to everyone, despite its lack of proper class needed for such a role. Its appearance had become more defined, and Brit felt truly jealous. Brit lived eighteen years and barely filled C and Jenny could easily get D cups if she so wanted. But being the modest machine it was, she kept to her usual size and just made her form more svelte. Its painted-on hair had become actual hair (Well, metal plates, but acted like actual hair) and it had gained a more human-like design.

But it still acted the same, and it was popular.

Sitting down in her usual spot near the big window, Brit ordered and waited as she watched Jenny normally walked down the street, adoring fans following behind in her steps. As soon as she witnessed the event, Jenny flew off, presumably to go and fight some more bad guys elsewhere. Brit's food and drink came and went as well. Money on the table, she left without a word to the staff and went back to the park to continue writing her report.

But even though the park had returned to its quiet state (Although with a huge crater from the ship's impact) Brit couldn't focus and work on her speech paper. She tried to write down anything, be it a structured sentence or notes to be deciphered later, but her thoughts drifted back to Jenny.

Jenny.

How dare it.

Brit held back tears. She didn't want tears to come falling down, she wanted to scream out loud. She wanted to be angry, not depressed. All her emotions were out of control.

So she decided to do what most teenagers (Then again, she was turning 18 near the end of the year.) do when they want to nonverbally get their emotions out. Doodle out her frustrations. Brit took delight in making caricatures of Jenny for the rest of the afternoon, often breaking out into evil laughter as made Jenny the stupidest and disgusting thing on the planet. However, Brit wasn't really paying attention to what she drew, and just assumed she drew out the exact images in her mind down on paper. After spending at least a good thirty minutes on it, she decided to look at her drawings and see her accomplishments.

Then she ripped out the paper and crumbled it up.

How and why would she draw that?

Brit felt confused and even more furious at this. All she wanted was to draw Jenny as unflattering as possible. This…came as far away from that goal as possible. It actually painted Jenny in a positive light. Brit couldn't stand to look at it! Like, what the hell! She felt so disgusted with it; she tried to crumple it up even more and even stomped on it for good measure. But she stopped when she heard someone talking with a friend over a phone walking nearby and getting closer. Not wanting to throw away the incriminating evidence and let it be found, she stowed the ball into her purse and walk away. Might as well head home and get started on those handouts she need to fill-out for next week.

"Brit!"

Oh no.

Jenny had come back to the park to inspect the damages done.

"I've been looking for you." Jenny approached with its usual smile and wave. "I saw you before right here during the attack." Jenny's eyes got brighter and turned light blue. "I'm going to check for any damages done or any sort of infection. Vexus has developed a virus…"

"I'm fine." Brit coldly dictated as she simply stood away from the eyebeams.

"Oh." Jenny eyes went back to the normal. "Okay." Brit went to walk off, but Jenny quickly caught up and then asked, "Hey, how's school?"

"Fine." Brit replied. Didn't Jenny ever pick up the idea that Brit didn't like talking with her? Or the only times Brit ever talked to it was to use it? Brit continued to walk away, with Jenny following regardless.

"Ah." Jenny nervously whispered. "So, what's your plans for the year, and after?"

"None of your business."

"I was just trying to start a conservation…"

"Not in the mood, not caring." Brit shrugged it off and hurried her pace, before turning back and saying, "Shouldn't you be checking others for this virus?" Jenny did catch up on this and fly off to check the people of the town for infection, or find any Clusters soldiers who landed. Brit went along her own way home.

Jenny had already checked the area for any activity, but she left to keep Brit some breathing room. While Jenny didn't get a full scan of Brit, she did see a crumpled ball of paper in her purse. Jenny's high-powered computer mind took the paper and made a digital image to unravel it and see why Brit just didn't throw it away. Jenny figured it wasn't too important; but Brit had worked with Vexus before so such caution was needed.

At first, Jenny shook her head at the terrible drawings of her. Terrible as in drawing ability, not in design. Pushing past that were the notes for a speech about leadership. Fairly decent in Jenny's opinion. But even the optimistic Jenny knew that Brit wouldn't make valedictorian unless she pulled a 180 in her grades and her general attitude.

But at the bottom of the paper was the most damnable item on the paper, the reason as to why Brit just didn't throw it away. Jenny had to stop in midflight and examine it closer.

The biggest drawing had the most talent behind it, almost as if Brit made the caricatures around the sides intentionally bad to make room for this one. The Jenny in this picture looked way prettier than the real one; Brit had even given Jenny a nice dress and pimped out the details on both the outfit and on Jenny. It looked professional.

And surrounding the whole picture was a heart.

Jenny too went home to ponder this. She had met several same-sex couples in her travels around the world, but those people were happy in their lives, and Jenny had been noticing how sullen Brit usually acted. While on campus she acted the same way she usually had been, outside she acted quiet and reserved; Jenny had seen Brit on last Thursday leave Tiff at school without a single word to her.

"Jenny!"

Out from her chest came the monitor. The static buzzed and then came in the clear picture of her mother. Jenny immediately stored the digital paper into her private databank before answering with "Yes, mom?"

"I need you back at the lab." Nora coughed out. "I'm going to need your help developing a vaccine for the New Cluster Disease."

"Please tell me you actually bought lab rats this time."

"Of course I did!"

"Mom."

"What, you assumed I used my famous fan dance to distract the pet shop owner while Tuck snatched the rats?"

"Didn't even have to try that time." Jenny muttered under her breath. "All right, I'm heading home now." The monitor then retracted back to Jenny's chest. However, instead of taking the normal and short route home, Jenny opted to take the long route. Give her time to think before she would have to fight off mutated lab rats.

Brit had a crush on her? Since when? And why her? Robosexuality was an ongoing issue, not a fashion trend.

Speaking of issues, this wasn't that important in the scheme of things. Attacks by the New Cluster were becoming more and more frequent, super villains were taking full advantage of this by attacking when Jenny was off saving their world elsewhere, and…

Doctor Wakeman was reaching the end of her lifespan. No denying such a fact. Nora had been coughing a lot recently, she hadn't been moving a lot as she used to, a lot of color had been drained from her face…the obvious material. Nora had prevented her daughter from scanning her old body, so Nora's internal organs could be melting into goop as far as Jenny knew. Her pride just wouldn't allow that.

Jenny had a lot to mull about when she got home. Things would really change this year. Be it for better or for worse, things would change.


	2. The Downhill Effect

Everyone got out of her way, teenagers and adults alike. Today might be Friday, but that didn't help Brit out one bit.

Brit's mood had worsened in the following week. Her grades had severely dipped even further; to the point where, combining her overall average from the past years, she wouldn't be allowed into graduation would have to repeat the grade. Tiff had faked illness three days in a row to avoid a quiz (Without even telling her own cousin how she did it without being caught, let alone the method itself) leaving Brit alone to keep the rabble inline with very little success. She hadn't written anything new on her speech, and it just remained as that one single paragraph. And Jenny had once again stolen the spotlight with her impressive academic record and stopping the enhanced Krakus from making the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean emerge from the water and make the world melt.

She normally could take this sort of crap usually. But the walls of her self-control had been torn down. She needed to vent, and hit someone hard. That someone being Jenny.

Brit stormed through the halls without any delays towards the cafeteria, giving anyone that dared try to look at HER and judge HER a pair of evil eyes straight into their souls. Everyone sitting down for lunch felt twenty degrees colder as soon as Brit entered. She scanned the room for her target. Hopefully Jenny stuck around for lunch; she usually went off around this time to do patrol around the world at supersonic speed. Brit instead decided to look for the two dorks she often ate lunch with. Sheldon had gotten considerably taller, so he should stick out from the crowd…

Ah-ha! The always lanky and eternally dorky Sheldon and the somewhat middle-line Brad sitting at a table, with Jenny! Brit grunted out something animalistic as she made a beeline towards the group. Any students in her path ran off or fell onto the tables as Brit stormed past. Jenny didn't even notice until Brit rapped on her head with a clenched hand. While Brad and Sheldon stopped eating and put on a nervous look, Jenny acted more relaxed and greeted Brit with a chipper "Hello!"

"That's all you have to say?" Brit hissed.

"Oh." Jenny looked down to think. "How are things going?"

"Very funny." Brit sneered. "You did it again."

"Did what?" Jenny asked with a honestly-concerned look. "Was there something important I forgot?"

"You robbed me of something." Brit got her hands on the table and edged in closer to Jenny, like she was questioning her during a trial. "And I want you to stop it."

"Uh…" Jenny wasn't following Brit. "If stole something from you, wouldn't you want it back?" Jenny then shrugged with a half of a smile. "But if you lost something, I will gladly help you find it…"

"Then leave this school and don't come back." Brit admitted out loud. She had pushed way beyond her normal boundaries by this abusive week, and didn't think ahead for any consequences. Brit wanted to vent out and she didn't care whom she trampled down. Jenny didn't take too kindly to this, and her eyes narrowed. Brad and Sheldon decided it was high time to beat it. Jenny got up and returned the evil eye look.

"I think you need to calm down a bit." Jenny warned with a unwavering tone. Brit would have normally backed down a bit, but her bravado kept her going.

"Calm." Brit repeated. "I have no reason to remain calm." Brit stabbed a finger in Jenny's chest, but not hard enough for Brit to break a finger. "All you do is rob me of my hard-earned success and make me out into playing the fool." She jabbed her finger again. Brit could have sworn to hear Jenny grit out a growl, but she pushed it aside for now to continue her rant. "I, Brittany Crust, used to be the golden girl of Tremorton, the one people who looked up to and inspired to be like. Now?" Third point. Jenny crossed her arms, meaning her patience was coming undone. "Normal organic humans wish to be you! Why strive to be something when you can be built to become it?"

"Are you saying I had a choice in me being built?" Jenny pointed out.

Brit ignored it, as she desperately wanted to win this. "You can be the savior of the world. Fine. But keep out of human activities. All you can do is to win them and enjoy the rewards. You can play sports without getting injured, or at least without earning a permanent injury. Academic events, as nerdy as they are? You have a computer connected to the internet! Just look up the answer!" Brit's voice had elevated above the usual chatter of the cafeteria and earned her a audience standing in fear of the two women.

"I don't cheat in those events." Jenny filled in Brit. "Even if I do participate in those events, I will purposely limit myself to ensure a fair game, and only amp it up if the other team decides to cheat…which they mostly like will."

"Excuses."

"Finger-pointing."

"You're nothing more than failed flawed imitation of a real human." Brit sneered. "In fact, no one should refer you as 'Jenny', but as X-J9. Jenny is a human name, you walking pile of junk."

"Oh." Jenny started to feel genuinely angry from all of Brit's insults. She decided to play 'fair', forgetting that the information she was about to say was meant to remain hidden until Jenny thought it would be an appropriate time to do so. "So…in other words, you think I'm incapable of making and understanding real emotions, and therefore I don't deserve to have any emotional attachments, be it that I make any or others make towards me?"

"Sounds about right…" Smugly declared Brit.

"What about hatred?" Jenny did her own finger pointing, though not as mean-spirited as Brit did. "That's a emotion."

"Well…" Brit stalled, long enough for Jenny to access her hidden archive and start printing out the paper she scanned last weekend. Brit didn't recognize the paper at first, but she did when Jenny spat out the print (Literally) and showed her the paper. "HOW!" Brit tried to snatch it with nervous fingers and a panicky voice, but Jenny's machine reflexes pulled it away in time. "HOW!" Brit repeated with true terror trembling in her voice.

"I scanned a part of you after the failed invasion for the Cluster virus." Jenny tapped the paper with one hand. "I didn't have a chance perform a full scan as you moved away…but I did scan your backpack." Brit stepped away from the table, but Jenny jumped up onto the table. "I saw a crumbled up piece of paper in your backpack, and I wondered as to why you kept it instead of throwing it away. I thought you conspired with the Cluster again so I unrolled the paper digitally…and found something that's quite interesting…"

"Destroy it!" Brit dug into her purse and retrieved her lighter. Clicking it on, she swiped it around; trying to catch the paper on fire with the little flame. Never mind the fact that Jenny could easily reprint a copy, all that Brit could think of while panicking was to burn the evidence. Jenny kept far away and rather gracefully dodged each attempt.

"While the paper…" Jenny started before ducking under a straight punch. "…is mostly a crudely written speech about leadership with a comparison to slavery…"

"Stop it right there." Brit quivered.

"…there are some drawings of me in some unflattering poses. You know, buck-teeth, eye-patch, stupid faces, poopy diapers…"

"That's enough, that's enough!"

"But here's the main event is at the bottom!" Jenny's eyes flicked, and a small hatch on the back of her head opened up to reveal a mini-projector. Aiming the back of her head towards a huge sports banner and pointing her eyes towards the incriminating drawing. Thus the lovely drawing of a beautiful Jenny decorated with a flowing dress and a large heart surrounding her got displayed to the entire cafeteria of about hundred people. "Quite a interesting take on me…you know? X-J9, the machine?"

Brit's world shattered.

Everything that could go wrong just did. What was a little secret she kept hidden and treated it as a wayward thought would now suddenly become the one trait people would remember her for. A robosexual. A dirty, filthy lover of machines. The laughter had to started to pick up in volume. Even the exhausted and deadpan lunch ladies were laughing at her. That was step one. Step two would be the vulgar insults she would have to endure everyday from everyone. Step three will be the personal attacks, not just the verbal ones, but the physical ones and the property damage. Oh god, her house would be trashed, and that was only the start of what her parents would punish her for. Everything she worked for would be thrown in the trash like a used paper towel. Her past achievements would be forgotten, as she would be. But that would be better than living as a outcast.

Hot tears streamed down her face and soaked her quivering lips. If she could see past the blurry vision, Brit could have seen Jenny drop the folded arms pose and smirk and take upon the wide-eyes and terrified look of a man who just bludgeoned his son in the heat of the moment. Brit had transformed from a cruel queen into a heartbroken woman who wanted to run away from everything. While the room continued to explode in laughter, Brit did just that as ran towards the exit through the crowd. Unlike before, where the people just got out of their way, she had to muscle her way through. Multiple nails were broken as she forced past the bigger people. But she did make her escape. She ran out of the cafeteria, into the hallway, and finally out of one the sidedoors. A teacher tried to say something about the student leaving the campus only a few minutes before class began again, but realizing it was just Brit Crust, decided to let her go and just let her fail out right.

Jenny became awash with multiple conflicting emotions all at once. For starters, she knew she didn't do the right thing, but one emotion laughed and stated that Brit needed a good dose of reality; people weren't going to take her crap anymore. One emotion played it cool said that Jenny should have waited and shown the evidence in private and essentially blackmail her. A third emotion, this one being more neutral, tapped on Jenny's shoulder and asked her if a direct confrontation was the best decision. The fourth emotion slapped Jenny across the face screaming 'how dare you?' The fifth and the final emotion asked her, in a calm but disappointed tone, the most damming question that shook Jenny to her very core.

Jenny gently made her way through the crowd, who were returning to class. A lot of people had taken screenshots and shot short movies of the event; so Jenny would have to do a lot of hacking later to remove the slander. Jenny didn't even say anything to her friends as she followed Brit's path. As she reached the student's parking lot, she noticed that Brit's new bright-purple Washington convertible wasn't in her designated parking spot and leading towards the main road were thick skid marks. Jenny headed up into the skies. If Brit was attempting to commit suicide…

No. She pushed aside that thought to focus on searching for Brit. Jenny followed a trail of dark skid-marks down the road to the park. Brit got lucky; all the cops were elsewhere and the road was fairly empty this time of day. Jenny touched down next to the parked car and proceeded on foot to locate Brit.

This would be the moment where all things changed for the two of them.


	3. The Leaves Fall All Around

Jenny took her time walking through the park. She didn't want to spook Brit by jetting over and landing near her. Being the middle of the workday, the park didn't have much people around, just a few business workers on lunch break and some mother or fathers enjoying the playground with their younglings. Some waved towards their town's heroine, but none of them offered any information or even made a comment about Brit. Jenny didn't stop and ask anyone, she needed time to calm down herself.

What the hell was she thinking? Publically outing Brit as a…possible robosexual? Hell, as Jenny knew, the picture was just a random, mindless drawing Brit did without looking at it. But her logistics kicked in and pointed out some inconsistencies. The damning drawing had the most effort put into it compared to the other sketches on the paper. The indentions of the lines on the paper also proved that she spent the most time on this one drawing; she erased some messy or off-place lines to make the drawing 'work'. All this only made Jenny feel even worse than before.

The question that Jenny asked herself back at the school still pressured her to answer it. She hadn't came up with a proper answer, and thus tried to ignore it until she found and kept Brit safe.

Trying to focus on other things, Jenny observed how fast fall came upon the park. Not an ounce of green within sight. All the warm colors of summers had dried up into the more colorful textures of the later year. Piles of multiple-colored leaves decorated the ground, most undisturbed for the time being. The wind had picked up in ferocity in the past few days; barely a day went by without Jenny overhearing some annoyed grunts of people running about trying to recover their blown-off accessories. Jenny pushed through the rushing wind towards the lake, towards the hill where she found Brit after the last invasion.

Indeed, from the hill came the faint whisper of a terrified girl crying her heart out. Jenny's auditory processors positively identified Brit. She engaged the stealth joints in her legs and slowed her walk into a crawl up the hill. Switching her eyesight into 5x binocular sight, Jenny peered upward. On top of the hill, laying her back against the tree with her head buried in her arms, Brit cried away. Jenny took a deep breath, returned her vision back to normal and got up the hill.

"Brit?" Jenny whispered. "Brit?"

"GO AWAY!" Brit yelled out loud, shocking Jenny and make her jump down the hill.

Brit sounded angry, but her voice greatly trembled. She screamed again, "FUCK OFF!" But this time Jenny just hung her head down. Instead, she moved around to the other side of the tree on her knees. Brit resumed her muffled crying. Jenny inched up to Brit. "I can hear you!" Brit choked out. She must have thrown out her voice with those screeches.

"I came here to apologize…" Jenny started.

"Go away bitch!" Brit hoarsely shouted, right before she started to choke. Seeing that as a opportunity to get up the hill, Jenny rushed to see Brit starting to turn a little red. Brit attempted to do a Heimlich maneuver, but Brit held out a hand as she cleared her throat and stopped the choking. "I'm fine! Go away!"

"Brit, you could have choked!" Jenny defended herself.

"On what?" Brit pointed out. She turned her head to face Jenny. Now the robot girl could see the damage on Brit's face. Her usual black makeup had ran down her face and stained it with smudgy black rivers, her eyes bloodshot, and her face had already turned a little red. "Air?"

"You need to slow down or your throat will close up." Jenny tried to get her hands on Brit's shoulders to calm her down, but Brit stepped back several steps. "Let me help you."

"No." Brit coughed. "You've helped me enough today…and for the rest of my life for that matter." She sat down at the base of the tree again. The one good thing about Brit being angry meant she stopped crying. A step in a…somewhat right direction. Jenny just stood there as Brit coughed every few seconds. Once the silence had fallen upon the two, Jenny reached into her chest cavity and pulled out a tiny medical spray bottle.

"Here." Jenny lobbed the bottle at Brit, who caught it. "It'll clear your throat." Brit still looked cross, but she handily took the spray and spritzed three times down her throat. The effects worked right away, as noticeable on Brit's face as it lightened up and the coughing immediately stopped. She massaged her throat before tossing the bottle back. "Better?" Brit nodded.

"Why did you leave school?" Brit jumped over to a different conservation piece with a mean sneer. "You're only allowed to leave school grounds during lunch or during a major crisis."

"This is a crisis." Jenny started. "I thought you were going to be a danger to yourself and others…"

"As you can plainly see…" Brit held her hands, showing them to be clean, yet stained with makeup-laid tears. "…the only thing that came anything close to danger are my in-season Jeanne DeVaccin designer clothes and my Tratamiento makeup." She pursed her lips thinking back to her tear-filled drive here. "I didn't hit anyone, but I guess drive over the speed limit. So I guess you can give me a ticket."

"I don't give out tickets," Jenny waved her arm, slightly narrowing her eyes. "And I won't turn you in."

"Well, isn't that great." Brit bemused by slapping her shins. "My social status falls into the deepest pit of hell, but hey." She threw up her hands with a fake smile. "I didn't get a ticket. I guess I should count my blessings after all."

"I can reserve the damage." Jenny tried to defend herself. "I'll head home and delete everything associated with the image; pictures, videos of the event, text messages, blogs, whatever it is! I swear I will contain the damage! I will do whatever is necessary…"

"Leave me alone." Brit bitterly insisted. "Do what you think is right, but please. Don't talk to me." She let out a sick chuckle. "I get it now. This is revenge." Brit got up and continued to let out her pitiful laughter. "All those years of mocking you have finally caught up to me huh? You found something against me, and you used it to destroy me!" She roared out the last part. "Happy now?!"

"I'm not happy!" Jenny shot back. "I overreacted! I got angry, and I…blew a fuse! I shouldn't have showed that picture…I should have deleted it!"

"Then why didn't you?" Brit asked with a faux calm tone. "If you saw my picture, and knew what sort of damage it would have caused if released to the public, then why didn't you delete it immediately?" Tears started to form again. "You're smarter than every human alive, so tell me."

"I…" Jenny really couldn't answer. "I wanted to know why you made this picture in the first place."

"So…" Brit threw on her false smile. "…you made me into a fool for the sake of learning the truth behind a stupid drawing." She bounced a few times. "Good." Suddenly, she reached out and slapped Jenny in the face using the flat side of her right hand. Jenny's head moved, but being made out of metal she didn't feel any pain. Brit collapsed onto her knees and held her hand in pain.

"I didn't mean to show the picture to everyone." Jenny calmly stated, looking down at Brit. "I saved the picture so I can ask you in private. I'm sorry." If Jenny could cry, she would have done so. "I'm sorry.' She repeated.

The two were quiet for an extended period of time. Jenny stood there, keeping a eye on the kneeing Brit. The seasonal winds picked up, blowing leaves at and around the two girls. At least the winds felt nice and cool instead of rough and cold. Neither girl moved, just letting the wind comfort them.

Brit spoke up first. "I didn't mean to draw you like that."

"The caricatures or the heart drawing?"

"The one with the heart." Brit sighed, got up and actually faced Jenny eye-to-eye. "I just saw you fighting against the aliens and got jealous, and just doodled out my frustrations. But I got so caught up in the moment I just…doodled that."

"But why?"

"…I don't know." Brit placed a hand on her bicep and rubbed it. "I don't know."

"Was it like…" Jenny went to the immediate first idea that sprang in her head. "…a rivalry crush?"

"No!" Brit defensively spat out and held up her hands. But Jenny's warm eyes made Brit drop her arms and meekly added, "…maybe. I just wasn't thinking…"

"Yeah." Jenny nervously whispered. "I know the feeling." For the second time, the two sent silent and let the season whisper all around them. But this stillness didn't last as long as last time, as Jenny brought up, "Actually…before I left the school I asked myself a question. One…I need your help answering."

"Okay." Brit nodded her head.

"I asked myself…" Jenny took a deep intake of the fall winds. "I asked myself…'how could I do such a thing to someone you might love?'"

Brit's eyes went wide as she heard those words leave Jenny's mouth. Jenny put on a small smile and continued. "I kinda formed that rivalry crush I just brought up a while back." She nodded her head back and forth. "I think you're cute." A little bluish tint came to Jenny's face. "But I think I blew my chances…"

"Wait." Brit interrupted, sounding so unsure. "I…really…don't know about my sexuality now." She started to tap her fingers together, hunching her back over. Jenny never seen Brit so nervous. "I dated a few guys back then…but now I just feel a bit weird around them. I wouldn't mind trying a experiment…"

"Weird how?" Jenny asked with honest concern. "How do you feel when you're around me? The same kind of weird…"

"Not that kind." Brit shook her head. "When I'm around boys…I feel uncomfortable. Not creepy-uncomfortable, just unevenness. But I feel safe around you…not that I would admit that to you or anyone else." Brit chuckled nervously. Still, sounded more healthier than the sick chuckle. "Of course, other people are going to feel the creepy vibe seeing us together. Lesbians and human-machine interfacing?"

"I'm a world-renown hero!" Jenny declared. "I think I can deal with those kind of people."

"Well…" Brit shook her head. "…should we try it? Just something simple, friendly get to together?"

"And see where it goes?" Jenny put on a earnest smile.

"…yeah." Brit sighed. "Let's keep this on the down low…at until the little scandal is forgotten." Brit looked out to the lake. "Let's meet here. Nobody comes here. Makes a good place to be alone for a long while."

"Sure." Jenny went over to hug Brit with open arms. Brit stepped back, but after looking into Jenny's inviting eyes, stepped forward and accepted the hug. The two girls sighed a breath of relief as this chapter in their lives came to a close…

…or would have, if Jenny didn't feel the barrel of a high-power laser pistol stick into her back. Brit yelped and broke off the hug by jumping back. Jenny instinctively held up her hands and waited for instructions from the hostage taker.

"One move out of line and this puppy will tear a hole through your chest, hit the girl in front of ya, through the tree, probably going to go through that building out there…" Came the familiar rambling voice of Krakus. While Jenny had no reason to believe that the scatterbrained inventor could not only make a gun capable of that damage let alone firing it, she kept still. "You too buck-tooth!" Krakus ordered. Brit with a whimper raised her trembling hands.

"What do you want, Krakus?" Jenny asked, right before being smacked in the head by something heavier than Brit's hand. This time it did hurt, so Jenny rubbed her head. "Look, if you want to kill me, do it. Leave Brit alone."

"Not a chance!" Krakus barked, swinging his wrench again and smacking Jenny on the neck with a wild swing. This got Jenny to turn around and see the new Krakus. Despite working for the New Cluster, Krakus appeared to be falling apart; loose wires stuck out of his chassis, a thin black smoke puffed out of his neck, one of his eyes had came loose, and his wheel had various degrees of wear and tear. The gun meant business all right. That thing could kill both girls in one shots…and going by all the modifications added on, the recoil would tear Krakus' loose head off.

"I see Vexus didn't spring for any upgrades." Jenny smirked. "I guess you didn't qualify, oomph!" Jenny wheezed as Krakus hammered his wrench into her stomach.

"Be quiet!" Krakus ordered. "I shouldn't need to kill you…" He held up the wrench as a declaration of his intentions. "I'm going to strip you for your parts! Maybe I'll leave you alive, maybe I'll kill you, maybe I'll reprogram you to serve us…eh, depends on much work it's going to require." He pointed the wrench towards Brit, who jumped. "Bucktooth! You're going to assist me! I'll tell you what to do, and by following that I won't shoot you."

Brit nervously walked over towards Krakus, hands still up in the air. Krakus tossed her the wrench, but by doing so, a loose elbow joint fell out and his arm went limp. This distracted Krakus long enough for Brit to throw the wrench back, hitting him square in the head, making him drop the gun. Jenny immediately reacted and held up Krakus with one arm while pointing a fist at him. "You should really retire Krakus. A old machine like yourself…"

"…still can learn new tricks!" Krakus declared with venomous intent, stabbing Jenny in the stomach with a dual-pronged knife that surged electricity into Jenny, sending down to the ground completely stunned. Krakus chuckled as he held the knife right above Jenny's head. "Not bad for a rusted tin can, heh? Without you, the New Prime shall move forward and conquer this world…and Vexus will finally award my genius!"

Such fitting last words for the mad scientist.

Brit, in a moment of sudden bravery, picked up the blaster and pulled the trigger. Thankfully, some of the new parts had fallen off, severely weakening the recoil and power. The shot ripped through Krakus like an enflamed arrow through a flag, permanently damaging his insides. The shot flew and crashed into a nearby tree. Krakus didn't even mutter out any cry of pain, he jus fell dead on the spot, the knife scattering away from Jenny.

Jenny could move again and the first thing she moved over to was Krakus to make sure he died for good. Her sensors detected nothing. No sparks of life, running motors, active computers…nothing. Krakus no longer exists in the mortal plane and not even the greatest mechanistic in the entire universe couldn't bring him back.

"Brit?" Jenny asked. Brit had returned to sitting under the tree. The blaster, having explosively unraveled itself after firing, now laid on the ground useless like it's inventor. Jenny joined Brit under the tree and sat next to her without any input from Brit. Jenny let a second pass before putting her arm on Brit's shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Yeah…"


	4. Invisible Hand Holding

Okay, okay.

Baby steps, baby steps. Don't try to run, keep your walk steady and slow, and everything should be fine.

Brit looked over to Jenny, who offered her hand to hold. Brit peered back to the front of the school to see the bustling crowd of students pushing through the entrance or talking with another before class started. She returned focus back to Jenny and politely shook her head. Jenny understood and bumped shoulders to calm her. Brit did return a nice smile and the two pressed onwards.

The weekend had passed, and Jenny had managed to remove all videos, pictures, and texts relating to the incident back on Friday. As a additional incentive, Jenny had dived into her memory banks and turned the fight with Krakus into a video to show that Brit jut saved the world. People responded with varying degrees of doubt, but they did forget about the picture, so at least Brit could hold her head up normally out in public. Krakus' remains were jettisoned in space by a very happy Nora, who took delight in kicking the tin can's can before launching it into the sun. At this point, nobody would know how Vexus would respond to the death of a subject of the New Cluster, but Nora shook her head and said she expected to get a strongly worded card from the Queen herself.

So life returned to normal…outside the two-year rivalry coming to an end and two beginning to see each other. Well, they met at a bookshop and bought some reading material on the recommendation of the other, but it's a start. Brit smiled! That's a good start! Jenny took delight in making Brit happy; part trying to be a good girlfriend, part still trying to redeem herself after the whole debacle. But she understood Brit needed time to get comfortable, and she would happily wait.

…well, Jenny kinda wanted to go official before the end of the school year, but hey, that's months away.

The two didn't share classes anymore, so they had to split off and go on their separate ways for now. They waved, a small wave as not to get people thinking again. Brit had made it very clear she didn't want to come out in public just yet, and made it even clearer that any interaction between the two would be 'friendly' at best. Birt promised she wouldn't antagonize Jenny any more and would try to keep Tiff off her.

Tiff had finally returned, speaking of the devil. She took on the more grunge-biker look, but kept her fashionable appearance with her new style. Brit had to hand it to her; the clothes really did make a powerful statement. Tiff strode over and held out her hands for a high-five, which Brit returned.

"So I heard about you saving the world!" Came the first words that Brit heard from her cousin in about a few weeks. "Pretty impressive…and you yet you saved Sparky."

"I merely returned the favor." Brit returned with a level of snark. Out of all the people in the school, Tiff would have been the first to figure out the truth, so Brit had to become her old self. "She protected me from the bugbot, and I kept her alive to make sure in case we're invaded, we would stand a chance against them."

"Working alongside the bugs was fun while it lasted." Tiff bemused as she piled her legs on the desk. "But I'm guessing the second time around they won't be accepting applications."

"Yeah." Brit put on her usual demented smile. "I sorta shot a high-ranking member in the back."

"Totally." Tiff chortled. Amazing she hadn't changed much and more or less remained in the same place. Brit sighed a breath of relief as Tiff bought it wholesale. So far so good.

Oh, if she knew the true power of those words.

Jenny burst into the room with a rushed pace. "Brit!"

Brit's eyes shot wide open, while Tiff merely looked on with a confused look. Brit bit her lip as Jenny approached. Didn't Jenny promise her this morning to not blow it? Jenny's chest cavity opened up and out came a claw carrying a lunchbox with a familiar logo of a crown. "You forgot your lunch!" Jenny declared.

Brit could almost hear Tiff's questions, but thankfully Jenny followed it up with, "Your butler called me on my flight over here to ask you to deliver this to you!" Which thankfully, was a huge lie. The butler on premises (Who Brit never bothered to learn the name of.) made lunches for Brit everyday. Seeing how Jenny came over to Brit's house to pick her up for school, Brut must have forgotten her lunch in the rush to quickly escape with Jenny before anyone could see the two together. Jenny must have retreated back to the house and got the lunch.

Jenny winked at Brit out of eyeshot of Tiff. "He said to have a good day…" She continued, expecting Brit to follow up.

"I will, thank you." Brit snatched the bag. "And I really don't need you playing nursemaid for me. Go rescue some kittens…or something." She waved off Jenny with a slight smile, thanking her somewhat. Jenny jetted off to class, keeping the illusion nice and thick to Tiff.

"Still the ever-loyal girl scout." Tiff blew a raspberry in the direction of Jenny.

"I got my lunch." Brit proudly displayed her lunch like a hard-earned prize. "So she's good for something."

"You should forget your lunch more often." Tiff commented as she reached over and opened the box. "Let's see how long this will last before Jenny catches on."

Brit forced out a laugh at the prank. Of course, she wasn't going to do the prank…but possibly arrange it with Jenny to help keep up the illusion. But as Tiff opened the box, Brit's eyes caught a note that didn't resemble any handwriting from neither her parents nor any of the staff. Plus, the bright blue ink gave it away as a note from Jenny. Before Tiff could see the note, Brit grabbed it, along with the orange it had been balanced on.

"Hey." Tiff noticed. "Gimme that orange."

"No." Brit shook her head. "It's my orange." While Tiff's eyes focused on the orange, Brit managed to hide the note into her jacket's sleeve with a magic trick she once learned in order to play a trick on Jenny years ago. Tiff's arm reached out to grab the orange, with Brit playing keep away. "Why don't you bring your own lunch?"

"Too lazy I guess." Tiff simply replied as she struggled to obtain the forbidden fruit. Brit sighed and tossed the orange to distract Tiff long enough to read the note in private.

"Dear Brit! I added a dark chocolate treat at the bottom of the box. Keep it away from Tiff! With hugs, Jenny."

Brit crumpled the paper up and hid it in her backpack while Tiff continued to devour the orange. Brit dug into the box and did find a complete dark chocolate bar at the bottom, but quickly hid the treat under the sandwich before the ravenous Tiff could see it and snatch it. Brit would see Jenny at lunch, so the two would talk about leaving little notes in places they could be easily seen.

The day went by without any more incidents. Brit and Jenny got through class, said hi in the halls in the middle of the crowd, and nestled shoulders when they had that one class together. When the lunch bell rang, Brit snuck past Tiff and made her way up to the roof through the janitorial access door and found Jenny already munching on a steel-plate sandwich, sitting on a wide iron pipe meant for running plumbing. The room had very few machinery on top, and not very big machines. If public access was allowed, this would make a perfect picnic spot; a fantastic view from all around. Brit waved over to her and sat next to her.

"We need to talk about your notes." Was the first thing Brit said.

"I'm guessing you really don't want people to find about us." Jenny asked with a sigh.

"Really!" Brit groaned. "You barely helped me get past the whole picture problem. If they…they being the other students and the people online…no amount of deleting evidence or giving me credit for saving the day would make people forget about me being a homosexual and a robosexual!"

"I thought we discussed this." Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow. "Eventually, one day we're going to come out."

"But not now!" Brit held her arms in defense. "Not now. I heard about a recent bill that might properly legalize Robosexuality. Once it becomes a public thing, we can come out. My dad has some sort of political power…if his princess becomes apart of the new movement, he might push the bill forward."

"So you're waiting for the new line of clothing to become a hit." Jenny aptly summarized.

"Guess I haven't changed." Brit chuckled before switching subjects. "Are you sure we won't be caught up here…"

"The door has a DNA/Camera lock with a computer unconnected to the main school server that I hacked into, and will only open for me and you, AND nobody will know we'll we're up here." Jenny angrily chewed away at her meal. "Let's get back on task here. You don't want to be seen with me out in public. Fine, you need time to get used to the new situation. I get it. But can you lighten up a bit?" Jenny tossed the remainder of her sandwich into her open mouth and swallowed it whole. "You did save my life, we could at least act as friends in public." She crossed her arms and put on a smile. "Hugs and other girly stuff 'girlfriends' do?"

"I…" Jenny nudged Brit before she could talk any further. "Look, low-key. That's what I want…for now. A week!" Brit shot up returning the nudge. "That's all I need. After that…we can do what you want." She held up her hand. "I promise. I REALLY will hang out with you in public." She than swung her arms out around. "Though I would prefer eating up here."

"Totally." Jenny gave an ok symbol.

"What about your other friends?" Brit then asked.

"Sheldon and Brad have clubs going on right now." Jenny reached into her cavity to remove an oilcan. "I usually spend this time on patrol, but after the death of Krakus, there hasn't been much activity from the New Cluster. I'm guessing they tried to use some of technologies he invented and it blew up in their faces, so I think I got some time to deal with some internal threats." Jenny shook her hand towards Brit. "Hey, more time with you is always good time." She finished up with a huge gulp of high-octane oil.

Brit simply chuckled. "Now I do have a question relating towards dating."

"You do?" Jenny's eyes sparkled…metaphorically, not actually sparking with electricity.

"How come you didn't date either Sheldon or Brad?" Brit honestly asked Jenny.

Disappointed by the third-party question, Jenny sighed and answered. "Well, Sheldon is nice…but a tad bit creepy. And Brad has his own little love life I think it would be rude to barge in. We're good friends, and I would like to keep it that way." She crumpled up the can and tossed it up in the air before disintegrating it with heat beams from her eyes.

"Wait, do they know?" Brit asked with sudden alarm. Jenny sighed once more. Seems like keeping this relationship up and working would require a lot of fine-tuning. And some strategic whacks in the right place.

"No, they don't."

"Oh thank god." Brit let loose a sigh of relief before again repeating her new catchphrase, "Let's keep it between ourselves…"

"In that case, let me tell the one person who does know." Jenny put on a rather evil smile. This, along with her statement, made Brit drop her lemonade can. "And she figured it out, I didn't tell her a thing." She dropped the smile. "Then again, she saw me deleting the picture incident and posting the video of you saving my life."

"Your mother knows?" Brit's eyes shot open. "Oh god." She held her head in her arms and started to rock back and forth. "Oh god."

"She's not going to tell anyone!" Jenny protested. "She's taking it well all things considered! In fact, it might take her even longer for her to come around than you." Jenny threw up her arms. "Look, let's talk about something else other than…this. Sports, clothes, makeup, anything else please. Please?"

Brit agreed and the two switched gears over to different subjects. For the remainder of the half hour of lunch, Brit and Jenny bounced back and forth on various subjects ranging from the previous three Jenny brought up to weekend plans, boys, (Often mocking) shopping, school, (Always mocking) Brit's paper, and other things (With varying degrees of mockery.) before waving goodbye as Jenny flew off the roof to head into class, allowing Brit to exit without being seen with Jenny.

All Jenny could do was to sigh. Brit will take time to crack, but there's a pearl in there…


	5. A Fall Festival To Ourselves

Tap, tap.

Went the pen against Brit's head. She sat at her desk in her second-floor room, desperately trying to move on to the next part of her supposedly powerful graduation speech. She hadn't gotten much further from the last time she sat down and powered through, which was the first meeting in the park. Only two paragraphs decorated the journal page, and only the first one had any merit to it. The second one would need a lot of work.

Tap, tap.

Brit held back groaning out loud. She had been doing enough of that recently. Besides, it would only break her very weak concentration, and she needed to hold on to that if she ever wanted to make any progress on the paper.

Tap, tap.

Brit started to chew on the end of her pencil. Her bucktooth easily left marks in the soft rubber end and the wooden part. She twirled it around, put it behind her ear for a bit, tapped the desk, doodled some more, (This time making more positive drawings of Jenny.) erased some stray marks off her report, and did everything else but reworking old paragraphs and adding new ones.

Tap, tap.

Tired, Brit let out an annoyed grunt as she tossed the pencil out of the opened window in a blind rage. She threw up her hands as she slumped back in her chair so hard, she titled too far and started to fall. But before she could slam her back into the carpeted floor, she got pushed back up and her chair rocked back and forth.

"Jenny?" Brit asked with a still terrified tremor in her voice.

"Sorry for breaking in." Jenny apologized while pulling out a pencil from out of the scarf she had on for some reason. "But I was coming by to see you and got beaned by this." She started to wag the pencil around. "Something wrong?"

"Oh." Brit didn't get into her usual spiel about the distance Jenny and Brit should have. "Thanks for saving me here."

"You're welcome." Jenny put on an easier smile. "Hey, want to come outside for a bit? Help you think a bit?"

"Sure." Brit stated without thinking it through. "Wait…"

"Here!" Jenny took the scarf off with a single swing of her arm and tossed it onto Brit, quickly tying it on using her computerized mind to get it on perfectly; not too loose as it to go all over and annoy the wearer and the people around and not too tight to strangle Brit. Also, Brit already wore a long-sheeve shirt and a jeans, so the cold wind wouldn't bother her. "And off we go!" Jenny took Brit up into the bridal-carrying position and carried Brit out of the window before Brit could voice her concerns.

Now the year had reached the apex of fall. The trees had become bare with long, skinny branches. Quickly fading colored leaves created a second layer of ground, and small piles created small hills all over. A strong, cold gust tore through town unrelentingly, forcing everyone to put on their winter clothes early despite the warmer temperature. Brit looked down to see many people struggling against the wind, some even being knocked down. Thank goodness Jenny completely resisted the wind.

The two landed somewhere outside of town, in a unoccupied clearing of trees. Several stumps remained planted here, but given a coat of polycyclic and smoothed out to become stools in the middle of the forest. Brit immediately sat down to catch her breath after the high altitude flight. Jenny merely dusted herself off.

"Windy." Brit commented.

"Going to be the windiest day of the year according to my internal meteorological sensors." Jenny added as she joined Brit on the same stump.

"You have one of those?" Brit asked, trying to start an conservation. Being alone with

"Sure." Jenny tapped her head, and out came a small radar dish attached to a small machine box. "I used it originally to learn about rain storms, back in the day when I used to rust up a lot easier. Now I use it nowadays to learn about any disastrous weather ahead of time so I can get people away from the dangerous areas." The machine retreated back inside her head soon after.

"Is there any chance of tornados?" Brit asked, a bit worried.

"None." Jenny shook her head. "Unless All Weather One returns from the grave." Jenny stalled for a second before added. "Natural causes, naturally."

"You don't need to tell me that." Brit waved her hand with a comfortable smile. "I know the only thing you kill are machines…and that's not the best term to use, right?"

"I 'decommissioned' many rouge or evil machines myself." Jenny sighed. "Some of those robots I dealt with are indeed truly wicked, like most of the Cluster, and I calmly forget about them soon enough once dealt with. Some machines I do remember, but I try not to dwell on them too much. And the rest…I do remember. Not all the time. But enough." Jenny let loose a uneven breath, looking upwards into the sky. Brit let her be for a second before prodding her to return back to reality. Jenny blinked several times before facing Brit. "Oh. Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to sour the mood."

"It's fine." Brit shook her head and placed a comforting hand on Jenny's shoulder. "At least you have a conscious." The two shared knowing smiles. They hadn't much time to themselves during the week, but they had a entire weekend to enjoy.

With the whispering forest to themselves for the run of the afternoon, Jenny and Brit engaged in some fall activities meant for younger kids. Jumping from pile to pile, throwing balls of compressed leaves at the other, hide-and-go seek…Brit for once let go of her snobbish attitude to enjoy a fun pastime of the lesser people. All things considered, this was their first date. Not a small get-to-together in some café for a snack, but just the two screwing around in the forest alone.

But the fun and games came to a abrupt end when Jenny's chest opened up and the monitor came alive with Doctor Wakeman shouting. "XJ-9! The New Cluster has just landed in the Great Lakes and are attempting to set up a base." Without even stopping for a single break she continued with, "Oh hullo, Brit. Did I interrupt something?"

"It's not that big of a deal, mom." Jenny responded. "I'll head there right away." Doctor Wakeman nodded before the screen turned off and the monitor retracted back inside of Jenny. "Looks I got to jet." She nervously pointed off in the general direction of the Lakes. "Otherwise this relationship will end when the New Cluster kills everyone."

"Yeah, go." Brit waved. "I'll find my way back." Jenny nodded before jetting off at max speed in a northwest direction. Brit sighed, placed her hands in her pocket and went in the general direction of the town.

Brit mulled over the short exchange she and Jenny just shared. Honestly? One of the better moments in Brit's life. She felt…comfortable. She felt relaxed. She enjoyed herself, and didn't treat Jenny's departure like she got dumped. Jenny had bigger concerns right now than forming a strong relationship. The threat of the New Cluster was too big to be ignored. Brit silently prayed for Jenny's safe return as she entered back into town.

"Whatcha doing!" Tiff snuck up behind Brit and slapped her hard on the back. Brit must have jumped up fifty feet. "You okay?" Tiff switched from joyful to slightly concerned. "Didn't mean to scare you like that."

"Hmph!" Brit put on the air of authority. "You don't sneak around and scare people like that. At all." She put her hands on her hips.

"Hey, I haven't been seeing all that much." Tiff passed it off like it was a normal occurrence. "Spending all your time in your room, don't talk in between classes…"

"My grades are starting to slip." Brit stuck up her chin. "I've been hitting the books, that's all." Brit gave her cousin a evil eye. "I should be asking you the same thing, you punk. What have you been doing recently?" Brit eyed Tiff up and down. Tiff wore the basic biker's outfit: leather tuscadero with a rather gaudy punkish t-shirt and a scarf wrapped around her head. "Looks like you've doing some dirty work."

"Man!" Tiff tossed her arms down, keeping her cool despite Brit's bittiness. "I'm learning how to make my own bike! I can make my own millions that way!" She pointed a finger at herself, really proud of herself. "And then I teach all the snot-nosed brats 'my' techniques and charge them a arm and a leg!" She then crackles at the scheme. Brit shook her head out of disappointment. Not because Tiff's cruelty, but because the scheme had plenty of holes in it. All it took for it to fall is for Tiff to forget one detail in construction…and the fact getting multiple sets of every required motorcycle part would cost two arms and a leg.

"Good for you." Brit quickly congratulated by patting Tiff on the head forcefully. "Now." Brit cleared her throat while pointed towards the road leading home. "I best be returning home. I need to seriously study. We got a quiz on Tuesday in my math class…"

"Who were you seeing in those woods there?" Tiff deviously smiled, getting right into the main meat of things. Brit reacted poorly; she stopped dead in her tracks with a wide-eyed look full of fear. Tiff giggled. "And no hiding from me. I didn't see you doing anything…and I promise to keep it a secret…"

"You will not!" Brit regained her normal composure. "You will blab it out loud all over the world, and it will be that picture fiasco all over again!"

"Wait a minute." Tiff's smile got even more uneven as she tried to contain her laughter. "That picture was about a sexy Jenny posing nude…"

"It was just a random intrusive thought that I ended up doodling." Brit falsely grimaced. Honestly, she hadn't gotten to the point where she could consider Jenny 'sexy'. "And I don't draw nudes. Just a big stupid heart around a big stupid robot."

"A big stupid robot…" Tiff let out a snort. "…you're dating!"

Brit put on a stone cold face. "Absolutely not." She stated without even a single twitch of her lip or face.

"Oh come on…" Tiff started before actually looking at Brit. Brit looked so serious, even angry for implying such an action. Tiff backed away, giving Brit some breathing room. "…come on." Tiff repeated. "Really?"

"NO." Brit spat out venomously to make absolutely sure that Tiff perfectly understood.

"Okay, okay." Tiff nervously put her hands behind her back. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't ask such stupid questions like that anyway."

"About time." Brit calmly stated, realigning her new scarf. This made Brit lose focus on her demeanor. Jenny hadn't reclaimed her scarf! And it didn't match Brit's clothes or even her usual palette. If Tiff caught on, no amount of lying would save Brit from public embarrassment. Brit turned around from Tiff to walk home, trying to keep the scarf hidden from Tiff's view. Sure, she already saw it, but hopefully she wouldn't bring it up. "Look, I just went out for a walk to clear my head. Sorry for being so mysterious, I didn't think it would a big of a deal."

"All right, geez." Tiff groaned out all annoyed. "Sorry."

"Let's go home then." Brit stated as she started to undo the scarf. The wind had died down enough as so it would longer be needed, so she could hide it away under her shirt. "I'm getting hungry anyway." Tiff didn't question her cousin any further and meekly followed behind. Not that she fully bought what Brit said, but at this point she had no evidence to back up the claim. Tiff just went along with it for now.

For now.

But this had an profound effect on Brit. She had promised Jenny to come out sometime this following week in public…but with Tiff's picking, she started to doubt that decision. All those fears she wanted to get past and forget about reared their ugly heads and served as a reminder of certain consequences that would befall Brit if she went through with her plan…

If she didn't want to keep it a secret, Brit would have wrapped up back in the scarf. She suddenly felt very chilly.


	6. She Stands Next To Me

She could feel her feet freezing. Rocking back and forth didn't warm them.

Brit could already hear the mocking voices of her peers as she stood in the cafeteria where practically the whole affair began. She nervously took ahold of her spoon to take a bite out of some yogurt and nearly dropped it with her shaky grasp. Normally, eating strawberry yogurt calms her nerves. But those nerves were usually rattled by popularity issues, not romantic problems. All the yogurt did to her was to make her stomach churn and leave a weird strawberry taste in her mouth. She quickly ditched the half-eaten cup into the nearest trash can and placed her hands in the pocket of her lavender coat.

Wednesday. The dreaded day. Brit had thought the weekend would be enough for her to be ready to finally come out in public a as lesbian robosexual. But the encounter with Tiff over the weekend and further talks with her cousin during the two weekdays only continued to make her feel like the whole thing was going to end up being yet another giant embarrassment for her. Didn't help that Brit stood in the same room where she got embarrassed the last time around.

And yet, Jenny's happy little giggle and bouncing was reason enough for Brit to come out and admit the truth.

So adorable ~

Thus Brit arrived at a crossroads, and not one with just two roads. One road lay straight ahead: come out in public as per the plan. Jenny would cheer and the whole world would be decorated in a giant rainbow. But the possible consequence…Brit knew them and didn't want to bring them up again. The road that went to the right would make Jenny unhappy: delay even longer to a later date when Brit could work up the courage. A little rough path, but manageable. But there's the left road that Brit had sadly put some thought into: outright deny it out in public or even break it off with Jenny in private. The left road would avoid any future problems all right…

…but a sad Jenny would make anyone sad. And Brit wasn't that cold-hearten. Going left had been considered, but wouldn't be used at all…unless she got forced into a corner.

And god, she didn't want to be in that corner.

Honestly, Brit would have preferred eating on the roof. Wait until after lunch to do the reveal. That way, Brit could enjoy the nice breeze on the rooftop and actually discuss a plan with Jenny. As it stands right now, they would strike up an conservation in the middle of the cafeteria and come out in the crowded room. No big song and dance number…not that this situation required such a event, but Brit wouldn't minded if the whole thing had more flair to it. A one-act play would have given Brit the bravado she so desperately needed right now.

She pulled back the cuff of her coat to look at her watch. It read 12:34:21. Jenny said she would back by around twelve-forty, after she did a patrol around the world to make sure the announcement would go without a hitch. Of course, nobody could predict the unpredictable, but Jenny wanted to at least have enough time for the two of them. Plus, the New Cluster had been quiet since Jenny smashed their Great Lakes base.

So Brit had five minutes to burn. That's enough time for her to freshen up again in the nearest bathroom. Try to at least look decent for Jenny. Hide all the worrying wrinkles and that. Practice funny faces. Act out her 'lines'.

And all she did those last remaining minutes was to stare at a dirty mirror in an equally dirty restroom. Thankfully, nobody came in and made a passing comment towards her. She didn't let go of the edges of the sink. If she had the strength, she would have ripped the damn thing out of the wall and smashed into bits. Yet another method to calm her down. Destruction of public property. Fun for the whole family.

Suddenly she felt very fragile; like very loose strings were holding her whole body together. Brit tried to focus on something to calm her down, anything. She thought about how the new line of designer clothes by Majestic looked really good. She thought about all good times she experienced up to now, obviously not bothering to recall all the embarrassments. Good food, great entertainment…

…and Jenny.

Yes. That thought alone brought a smile to Brit's worried complexion. While they had only been seeing each other for nearly two weeks, the two did share some happy moments. Playing in the leaves, enjoying lunch alone on their private rooftop, Jenny taking her around town…

Jenny really had become a positive influence on her life. Only been a short time since the two started to be friendly instead of antagonistic, but Brit felt easier when Jenny came around her. True, that feeling went away when people came around them, but if they made the big announcement…Brit would feel fine going out in public with her girlfriend. People might mock them, sure. People might assault them, sure. (Or just Brit.)

…and that nearly killed the growing bravado. Brit worryingly sighed. This wasn't going to work…

"Muffin?"

Brit broke away from her little dream world to see Jenny holding a warm blueberry muffin up to Brit's nose. Smelt fresh and even delicious…but then Brit took in the scintillating smell of an unkempt public high school bathroom deep into her nostrils. She would have gagged if not for Jenny quickly releasing a thick stream of aroma of rose through the air. Once Brit could feel her fingers again, she ravenously devoured the muffin with two quick bites. "Thanks." She said after swallowing the last bit.

"Had a feeling you would be in here…or in a different restroom." Jenny shrugged. "I grabbed the muffin about two minutes ago while walking throughout the school looking for you."

"Have to look good for the big announcement." Brit half-heartily stated. "I could save some face with a good face." She tried to make a joke, but the punchline, along with her tone, fell flat. Jenny had already predicted that Brit would falter today and wore a gentle smile to help calm Brit. A gentle pat on the shoulder got Brit away from the mirror and back to facing Jenny. "Can we…." Brit tried to force out the words.

"How about this?" Jenny sighed. "We confess today. After this, I'll take you out wherever you wish to go. Clothes, food, amusement park…doesn't matter where in the world it is, I'll take you to it." Jenny then wrapped Brit up in a huge hug. "No price is too high."

"You don't need to bribe me." Brit whispered.

"I mean it. Besides, a few stores have promised me some free stuff."

Brit took a deep breath, and confirmed to Jenny with a simple knowing look. Jenny almost wanted to kiss Brit on the forehead, but decided that Brit would more than likely overreact to that. Jenny tenderly broke off the hug and took Brit by the hand and lead out of the bathroom and back towards the cafeteria. The crowd, at first, paid no attention to the two until Jenny and Brit started to maneuver through them to go to the center part of the room. Jenny cleared her throat, and out from the top of her head came two speakers. Her left hand retracted and out came a microphone. After testing it with a few taps on the fabric head, she then spoke, "Attention. I got a announcement to make, everyone." Everyone stopped eating or talking and turned their attention towards Jenny and Brit.

Brit swallowed one last time. From this point on, she would power her way through this.

"Me and Brit…" Jenny turned towards Brit, extending her hand and heart out. Brit didn't hesitate and took it with a firm grasp. "…are going out!" And the two put on big smiles, Brit's more forceful. And they waited for the thunderous response. One of either hatred, acceptance, applause, laughter…

…but this response was one of apathy. Some people slowly clapped, some people just stated on, (Most likely not understanding?) and others just returned back to their lunch. Brit and Jenny took a minute of standing completely still, only blinking as they tried to compute what just happened, more so in Jenny's case. The speakers and microphone took their time retracting back to Jenny, almost if those objects felt embarrassment.

"…honestly not the reaction I was expecting." Jenny piped up. This apparently earned a verbal actual response from the audience.

"We already knew that. We kept seeing Brit and Jenny go up to the roof."

"Brad figured it out."

"Tuck then blabbed about it."

"Pretty obvious."

"I kept seeing you guys together."

"I'm a background character. My opinion doesn't matter."

"I read the title of the story. I know about the fourth wall."

And then everyone went back to his or her business. They treated the big secret of their hometown world-renown super hero and the biggest bully of the school like they found a penny on the ground. Jenny and Brit were left alone in the dull crowd without even a inkling of a idea as to what they should do next. As the bell rang for everyone to return to the class, everyone mechanically went back to their studies. Brit and Jenny continued to stand there.

"Huh." Jenny broke the silence.

"That simplifies a lot of things." Brit let loose several relieved breathes as she regained her usual demeanor. "And here I thought this would be a mistake!"

"Well now." Jenny returned the favor with a chuckle and elbow jab to Brit's arm. "Seems like someone made a 180." Brit started to pick up laughter as she endured Jenny's tender jabs. As the room had become empty, the two spent their time not running off to class but laughing out all their frustrations. Brit suddenly felt way lighter after that. Tonight she could go to sleep without having to worry about any problems now!

The two had to run to get to class in time, but they did make it. Brit took her seat next to Tiff, who had a weird and a conflicted look on her face. Possibly the only person in the entire school to be honestly surprised by the news. Brit waited for Tiff to start the conservation, running high on her bravado. Tiff finally broke the ice with a prompt, "What the hell?"

"Yes, I lied to you." Brit smugly declared. "I wanted to tell everyone on my own terms."

"You sidelined me." Tiff grunted. "Your bestest best friend."

"Only until I felt like coming out in public." Brit leaned back in her desk. "If I told you I was actually seeing Jenny, you would have used it to mock me or hold against me as leverage. But now it's public knowledge…" She held up her hands. "…we can add it to our topics of discussion."

"Filthy." Tiff put out her tongue.

"Take a bath then." Brit retorted with her own tongue wagging. But the teacher standing in front of the two cleared her throat to grab the classes' attention so they could get back to work on quadratic formulas. Brit and Tiff turned away from each other and for once, paid attention in class.

So things didn't explode or go into a full-blown riot as Brit dreaded. The only thing on her mind now was how people reacted when they first realized the truth. Then again, nobody confronted the two about the relationship nor posted anything online about it. Then Brit realized the obvious. These people lived in a world where technology is constantly doing all sorts of strange things to everyone, so the best human analogue dating a actual human isn't all that weird to them. Forgetting about the whole state or worriment she had spent several days in, she got back into her schoolwork.

But Tiff? She knew the truth, until Brit had convinced her otherwise. She honestly believed Brit. Brit honestly seemed so certain on that day.

Now Tiff looked down upon Brit…


End file.
